


And who will break your fall?

by SmilinStar



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 12:32:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1226413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmilinStar/pseuds/SmilinStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“He hits her in the chest all over again with that one look and it is nothing she knows.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	And who will break your fall?

“What part of  _stay in the car_  did you not understand?”

The words come out loud, hard and angry, “For someone with  _two_ , not  _one_ , but  _two_  degrees in genius, you’d think you’d understand the simplest of all the instructions I could have possibly given you!”

Sure, she’s seen him angry before – red in the face, forehead vein bulging and pure ire in his eyes - but even when he’d been under the influence of the Berserker staff, he had never really launched the full force of it in her direction.

Now? Now she knows exactly what it must have felt like for Skye and Fitz and she finds herself feeling much more sympathetic to their grumblings.

But she? She could give as good as she got. She was not some meek little scientist with no back bone and no fortitude to stand up for herself. Oh no. She was no damsel in distress and she was not going to cower.

She puffs herself up to her full height, which next to him of course doesn’t really amount to much, but she pays it no mind. That isn’t really the point – the point is, “I did what I thought was right!”

“Right? Right?! Right would have been staying in the  _damn car!_ ”

“And then just where would you be Agent Ward?”

“Just fine! I saw them coming!”

“Like bloody hell you saw them coming! You don’t have eyes in the back of your head!”

“And you have zero field combat training! Just what the hell was going through that genius brain of yours?”

“I had a plan!”

He scoffs, his tone dripping with condescension, mocking her, “A plan? Oh yeah, and what was that exactly? Throw a two hundred pound, knife wielding psychopath over your tiny little shoulder? Or were you going to outsmart him with your perfect recital of the periodic table, atomic mass numbers and all? Or how about using your well-honed, pitifully awkward feminine wiles?!”

She takes a sharp intake of breath. He’s being cruel and she can’t fathom it at all. She doesn’t understand his reaction in the slightest and it cuts a jagged wound unexpectedly deep. She feels like he’s taken a good hefty swing and punched her right in the chest.

The anger seeps out of her voice and she tries to ignore the underlying tremble to her words, “I saved your life.”

It’s like a pin in a balloon. She can literally see the air whooshing out of him as his shoulders slump. The fire in his eyes extinguishes and is replaced by something else altogether.

“And you nearly died in the process.” The words are heavy from his mouth and she can see the weight of them pulling him down.

She swallows, hard. “I’m okay.”

He lets her a small rueful smile then, eyes landing on the right side of her face. A small cut there taunts him. He reaches out and gently traces the line of it. The skin underneath is red and fast turning to the purplish hues of a fresh bruise.

His fingers are surprisingly gentle despite the roughness of his skin. But all she can focus on is his warmth and that same look in his eyes that does not seem to be fading. He hits her in the chest all over again with that one look and it is nothing she knows.

“You and I have very different definitions of okay,” he says quietly.

All the anger has dissipated now, only to be replaced by a rawness she’s not sure either of them knows how to handle.

His thumb rubs gently across her cheek and she thinks he doesn’t realise what he’s doing.

“It’s my job to keep you safe.”

She reaches up with her own hand and places it over the one caressing her face. She spreads her fingers in between his much larger ones and gently pulls his hand down so it’s swinging softly by their sides. She laces her fingers with his more tightly and squeezes.

“And who’s going to keep you safe?”

It isn’t really a question at all. It’s a statement. A statement of intent and the shy, beautiful little smile she lets slip cements it as an unequivocal truth.

Jemma Simmons. His own personal knight in shining armour.

She lets go of his hand then and he finds himself flexing and extending his fingers to shake the tingling she leaves behind.

He watches her walk up towards the ramp of the Bus, before calling out to her, “Jemma?”

She turns on her side, eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

She shrugs dismissively. He can tell she’s fighting the urge to smile and laugh but she manages to keep it together as she repeats his earlier words and yet again puts on a poor imitation of him,

“It’s my job to keep you safe!”

Her lips crack into a grin.

With a shake of his head, he can’t help but grin right back.

 


End file.
